Experts who appear as beginners

[qwertasdfg]

I think the self rating idea could be used for players to decide whether to start at beginner ELO = 0, or apprentice ELO = 1, this shouldn't mess with higher ELO rankings and could distinguish between "I have never played this game as far as I remember" and "I have played this game and understand the basics".

That would be even more of a way to sound like a total newbie to the game. An elo score of 1 implies you've played once and lost, so you definitely then don't look like someone who knows the game from real life

[asd123321]

That is why you would have ELO turned off or exclude players with much lower ELO

[GomJabbar]

I am relatively new to BGA and have a related question.

I notice in game invitations that some people, like myself, show a Beginner label under their name while others show Apprentice or Good Player.

But the question is, why do most not have any label at all? How do you know how good they are?

[Silene]

I am relatively new to BGA and have a related question.

I notice in game invitations that some people, like myself, show a Beginner label under their name while others show Apprentice or Good Player.

But the question is, why do most not have any label at all? How do you know how good they are?

It's because there's no label for 100-199 ELO. So players, that have no skill-level, are in that range. It's worth noticing that those labels only refer to the ELO that player has. It does not consider anything else like number of games played, tournaments, win-loss-ratio etc.

These are the labels:

0 ELO: Beginner
1-99 ELO: Apprentice
100-199 ELO: <no-label>
200-299 ELO: Good Player
300-499 ELO: Strong Player
500-699 ELO: Expert
700+ ELO: Master

[Jellby]

Those with no label are called "Average Player" elsewhere (or "Regular Player" in the achievements)

[Ours ma léché]

Et si tout simplement, on s'amuse !! Gagner ou perdre quelle importance du moment qu'on passe un bon moment à jouer

[DaMom65]

i know i play alot of the games on here in real life ALOT and i am pretty good at some of them. but when they come up on BGA and i start playing them on here i am started as a beginner even tho i may be considered an expert in real life. there is no way to differentiate that on here. if there was i could input in the game the experience level i have with the game i am playing before i play the game the first time somehow. so this is what i think is happening when you meet someone who is beginner level but expert on a game in play. there is no help for it.

[Silene]

But on the bright side: When you start playing a game here on 0 ELO and you win a lot, the ELO gain is HUGE because of buffed K-factor. So at least you'll get to a reasonable level in just a few games.

[frankenStain]

don't have any arguments or facts, but would like to share my opinion - it doesnt seem to be a big problem. and the triple k factor for the first 5-10 games should mitigate all standard problems with fair use.

if youre trying to make exploiting this system harder, the suggestions here seem to have way bigger exploits, until now at least.

how common does it seem to be that disguised experts are owning you ? O.o
it seems however likely some players would try to snipe experts from their positions with low rating accounts - the solution for high elo players, if they even care, dont play with noobs, its boring anyway, in a lot of games - or play training matches with them to explain the game if they are up to it...

related to this topic, i noticed the exploit the other way round - players (actually player, for now, im sure of) playing as experts, exclusively against newcomers, red thumbing everyone who might challenge them... - the goal being, making very slow but very stable elo ( **** , if someone is curious )

*Moderation Edit: please do not use the Forums to call players out by name, this is what the Moderation Reports are for. The Forums should remain a general discussion.

[wentley]

I am slightly irritated by the offhand way in which some posters here dismissed people's concerns, including those of the original poster. It is extremely annoying when a beginner who you have decided to play against in good faith, turns out not to be so, and you suffer a massive loss of ELO! And by the way this isn't uncommon in my experience, its happened to me on numerous occasions!

Yes you can exclude or not play against beginners but it can be difficult enough to get opponents for some games, and if beginners are then left out, that isn't doing them or anyone else any favours. Which is why I'm NOT suggesting beginners only get to play beginners/apprentices in their first game as a possible solution. Similarly some other way of indicating (including through messaging) that the player is not really a beginner is only likely to get them excluded from playing anyone but other beginners/apprentices.

Self-rating has already mentioned, but here is my suggestion. A better way would be to modify the ELO system, so that a beginner only gains ELO, and nobody loses ELO to them, until they at least reach Apprentice level or perhaps (even better) something like 50 ELO plus. I don't see this is too hard to implement. Its not like ELO is some fundamental quality like energy, which can't be created or destroyed, only transferred! I mean it may seem its been created like that, like some crypto-currency, but I feel it should not break the system to introduce this change. After all, no one lose ELO below average level, so it can be done.